Female Body In Photography

The intention of the female body in photography is to create an oomph and spark in the viewer’s eye.

In a quick search on the internet, you will find many, many images of the female body in photography but most don’t tell you what the intention was behind the photo.

As an artist, it is your creative thought processes that give life to your photography.

If you aren’t clear on your creative intentions, then it is likely that your photos will lack the oomph that you so wish to share.

I want to share with you some of the ideas and intentions that I had during a photo shoot.

In the following two images of the female body in photography, I will give you the details behind the photos.

These details are the answers to the questions I point out in the portrait photography tutorial page and the female form photography page.

Both photos were taken with a Nikon D90 and a 50mm, f/1.8 Nikkor lens. The camera was set on manual mode with auto ISO enabled. Both photos were shot in RAW and were later processed using Adobe Lightroom.

The enhancements were:

  • Crop
  • Exposure Adjustment
  • Soften Skin

I hope you will agree that the enhancements were beneficial and that they created the mood I was looking for.

Female Body In Photography – 1

This photo was shot at ISO 400, f/1.8 at 1/50th second. I hand-held the shot and I didn’t use any extra light source. You will see why I chose these settings over others.

There was an opportunity to shoot on a seamless black background and I jumped at the chance. The model here was lying down on the sheet of paper and looked so comfortable and relaxed.

I wanted to convey a mood of relaxation and a bit of playfulness. I was lucky because the model had some purple in her hair which I thought was a bit of fun. And the light was a low, soft, theater-like light which added to the ambiance.

She looked at the camera that I pointed at her and I knew that this was the photo that I wanted. I had taken several photos of her earlier but this was the one that just clicked!
female body in photography
This is what I intended:

  • Soft
  • Feminine
  • Relaxed
  • Playful
  • Sensual
  • Dreamy

The camera adjustments of f/1.8 and 1/50th second helped a lot.

As you know, the smaller f-stop number helped to blur the background due to a shallow depth of field. In this photo, I focused on the model’s eyes and let the rest of the photo become blurred. Because the focus is on the eyes, that is what the viewer is naturally attracted to.

The viewer gets lost in the model’s eyes and the rest of the image is then processed by the viewer as periphery.

Playful, isn’t it?

Relaxed?

Yes! And Yes!

I also chose not to use another light source to further convey the dreamy feeling. It helped greatly that my lens was able to let in a lot of light (low f-stop number) which meant that I could shoot at a slightly faster shutter speed and thus not get any blurriness in the photo.

If the lens couldn’t stop down to f/1.8, I would have to use a slower shutter speed of about 1/5th or so and thus be unable to prevent a blurry exposure.

And I was surprised at the result! It is very helpful to know the general idea of what you want to convey so that you can easily capture the female body in photography!

Female Body In Photography – 2

The first photo above was of a model on a seamless black background. This photo is of two females against a black background. Again, this photo was taken with a Nikon D90 and 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor lens shot at ISO 400 and 1/50th second.

I like to capture emotion. I want to see smiles and I want to see fun. I asked these two girls to look and laugh like they were enjoying themselves.

I had them look away from the camera to their right. On their left (my right) was an external flash unit being shot through an umbrella to diffuse the light. The ambient light was soft and similar to that of a theater-like venue.

This is what I intended:

  • (Best) Friends
  • Comfort(able)
  • Laughter
  • Fun
  • Closeness

While shooting these two females, I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to create a feeling of friendship and closeness. I wanted these two females to show viewers that they have been friends for a long time and that they were sharing a laugh at something both of them were looking at.

These two females are friends but I wanted to show a friendship that has lasted several years and several experiences.

I had the models stand close together. In photography, it is hard to convey closeness unless there is very little physical distance between the individuals. In real life, it is uncommon to see two friends be this close physically. For photography, however, they must stand very close to each other.

As the lens was 50mm on a digital SLR body, I was standing about 3-5 feet (1 to 1.5 meters) away. The external flash unit was to my right about 5-7 feet (1.5 to 2 meters) away from the models.

I talked to the models, made them comfortable and had them laugh. While they were laughing, I was looking through the viewfinder to capture that exact, a-ha! moment!

Capturing the right emotion, the right expression, the right nuance the female body in photography is a real delight!

Love your camera. Love yourself. Love your photos.